Last season brought about the big decision to hang on to JACE. The sailing lifestyle is simply too good. More on how that decision gradually established itself here [Somewhere Along the Way].

Since then I’ve been thinking a lot about what comes next.

The dream of that really big lap around the planet is still there, lingering somewhere in the background. I’m less certain about it than I once was. But I am certain that now is not the right time. In a few years, maybe. Let’s see where life takes me.

So what now?

The obvious answer would be to keep repeating the pattern. Work during the year, then escape to the Caribbean from late November through mid-January, taking advantage of the holiday lull and escaping the European winter before I need to be back for the Q1 board meeting circuit. The Antilles are a wonderful cruising ground, and there is so much more to discover.

But another idea emerges instead.

Much like the decision to keep JACE, it appears, lingers, and gradually turns from an idea into a plan:

Bring JACE to the Mediterranean.

On the face of it, that might seem obvious. So much closer to where we live. So much easier to get to.

But there are obstacles.

JACE is a heavy blue-water boat. She likes a good breeze to get moving — and to stay cool below decks. Mediterranean summers are hot and, in many areas, dominated by light winds. There are technical changes to make. Many European marinas require blackwater holding tanks, so our aft head will need to be retrofitted. The Med is expensive: marinas cost more, labor costs more, and bringing JACE permanently into EU waters means paying import VAT. Ouch!

And then there’s the small matter of getting her over here. Grenada. St. Maarten. Bermuda. The Azores. Gibraltar. A proper Atlantic crossing and an adventure in its own right. Also a big block of time in the middle of peak work season. How do I do that? Can I? You will hear more about that in a future post.

Little by little I work through the obstacles. Some have solutions. Others get outweighed by stronger arguments in favor. And a few simply require getting comfortable with biting the bullet.

I research cruising grounds, weather patterns and seasons, marinas and costs, flight connections and customs rules. I talk to agents, study routes across the Atlantic, and start piecing the puzzle together.

It can work.

And I’m increasingly excited about what that could look like.

The plan is to base JACE in northwestern Italy, on the Tuscan coast, likely somewhere near Pisa to start with. The cruising ground looks fantastic and it’s an area I hardly know: Elba, Corsica, Sardinia, down toward Sicily and the Amalfi Coast and back again. Breathtaking scenery, centuries of history, beautiful towns and villages, outstanding food and wine, and lovely people.

And there is an added bonus: this is excellent road-cycling territory, with plenty of climbing and a much longer season than Munich. Somehow I need to store a bike aboard. A puzzle yet to be solved.

I think I will avoid the European summer altogether. July and August, JACE stays at the dock while I work and enjoy the best time of year around Munich and the Alps.

JACE-time will be the pre- and postseason: March through May and September through November. Cooler temperatures, more wind, fewer crowds, lower prices.

And this is where the idea gets really interesting for me.

JACE will no longer be something I disappear to for two months each winter. She will become part of normal life.

Being this close — and armed with a Starlink connection that is genuinely better than the internet in my office — I can work from the boat. My one-person advisory business is almost ideally suited for it. I work from home, interrupted every 2-3 weeks by short trips to clients around Germany and Europe. And whether those trips start at Munich airport or Pisa or Florence doesn’t make all that much difference.

So during those months I will migrate back and forth between home and boat. Work aboard for a week. Cruise somewhere for a few days. Fly to a client. Come home. Go back.

Sailing not as an escape from normal life, but increasingly woven into it. I’m excited to see how that works in practice.

There’s another big benefit: friends and family.

I’ve been blessed with wonderful visitors in the Caribbean. But getting there is a considerable commitment, and only the more intrepid among my family and friends have managed it. The list of people already interested in visiting JACE in the Med is considerably longer. First in line are my dear parents. They’ve seen the photos, read the blogs, and heard the stories. Now they want to experience “JACEing” for themselves. I can’t wait to have them aboard.

And then there are the boat projects.

In the Caribbean they were always squeezed into too little time, with parts, tools, and specialist help often difficult to find. In Italy, I can tinker at leisure, order whatever I need, drive parts down from Munich, and tap into a deep pool of skilled yacht tradespeople. For someone who actually enjoys boat projects, that’s no small thing.

So that’s the plan.

A few pieces still have to fall into place, and with boats there is always ample opportunity for something to go sideways. But if they do, JACE is coming to the Med next summer.

And in a way, it would be a homecoming for her. JACE started her life in the Mediterranean, based in Corsica.

I wonder how she feels about being back. Knowing JACE, she’ll probably find a way to tell me.